After walking on the mountain road for several hours, we arrived at Longtan Town.
When we were about to enter Longtan Inn, three people appeared in front of us.
A middle-aged man and two young people. All three of them were dressed in travel clothes and carrying backpacks. They looked like tourists visiting Longtan Town.
But when I saw those three people, I noticed that Lou Xiaoman and Zhao Xilan's expressions changed.
The middle-aged man in the lead looked at Lou Xiaoman and Zhao Xilan, and then snorted coldly, "Zhao Xilan, you really made it difficult for us to find you! Come on, follow us back to the Zhao family."
Having said that, the middle-aged man couldn't help but break up and reached out to pull Zhao Xilan.
Lou Xiaoman protected Zhao Xilan, raised her hand to open the middle-aged man's hand, and shouted angrily: "Zhao Santong, what are you doing? Xilan has nothing to do with your Zhao family anymore, why are you still chasing her?"
After listening to Master Lou's words, I seemed to understand something.
At the beginning, Master Lou told me about the Zhao family and Zhao Xilan. He said that the Zhao family had predicted Zhao Xilan's fate when she was born, saying that Zhao Xilan was a disaster for the Zhao family. Later, the Zhao family threw the young Zhao Xilan into the wilderness. If it weren't for Master Lou's compassion and rescue, I'm afraid Zhao Xilan would no longer exist in the world.
The middle-aged man is called Zhao Santong, and he should be from the Zhao family.
Zhao Santong glanced at Master Lou, and then his eyes swept over us with contempt.
Finally, his eyes fell on Zhao Xilan, and he said in a cold voice: "Zhao Xilan, this time, I came to Longtan Town, Wenshan City, just to find you. You must come back to the Zhao family with me. Otherwise, don't blame me for being rude."
Zhao Xilan's eyes flashed with coldness, and she said unhappily: "Third Uncle, why are you so aggressive? I have no relationship with the Zhao family anymore, so why don't you let me go? You have been trying to harm me all these years. Is it really endless?"
Zhao Santong replied arrogantly: "Zhao Xilan, you are my niece. But your fate is incompatible with our Zhao family. Your existence will endanger our Zhao family's business. This time I came here because your grandfather asked us to come. We just want to take you back."
At this point, Zhao Santong ordered the two young men beside him: "Zilong, Zihu, come, take your sister away to me."
The two young men listened to Zhao Santong's words very much and immediately took action, trying to pull Zhao Xilan to their side.
I quickly dodged over and shouted, "Stop! It's broad daylight, you guys are trying to kidnap someone?"
Hearing my voice, Zhao Santong and the two men looked at me.
Maybe because I was young, they didn’t pay much attention to me.
Zhao Santong raised his neck, stared at me coldly, and said coldly: "Boy, who are you? Do you want to meddle in the affairs of our Zhao family?"
When I heard this, I found it funny.
The Zhao family is just a family. Even if they have their own industry and even if there are Taoist priests who catch ghosts in the family, so what? In Jiangbin City, they may be able to run rampant, but in Wenshan City, I'm afraid they can't do anything wrong.
I said bluntly: "Uncle, it doesn't matter who I am. What's important is that you know who you are. Zhao Xilan has already said that it has nothing to do with you. So why are you still being so aggressive? Now we live in a society ruled by law, and we can't restrict others' personal rights at will.
Freedom, that's against the law."
After hearing what I said, Zhao Santong narrowed his eyes.
He looked at me carefully and said with a smile, "Haha! Boy, I can see that you are also a Taoist priest who catches ghosts. However, this is a matter between our Zhao family and Zhao Xilan. It is an internal matter of our family, so I hope you don't interfere. Otherwise, you may not even know how you died."
Is he threatening me
I frowned and said in a deep voice: "I'm sorry, your threats don't work on me. I don't have to listen to you."
Having said that, I reached out and took Zhao Xilan's hand, and walked towards Longtan Inn: "Come on, Sister Xilan, let's go in first."
A young man next to Zhao Santong, upon hearing me speak like that, angrily stood in front of Zhao Xilan and me and shouted, "You are not allowed to leave!"
I stopped and looked at the young man. He also had an aura of good deeds, and it seemed that he was also a Taoist ghost catcher.
I said coldly, "What are you doing?"
The young man ignored me and turned his gaze to Zhao Xilan, saying, "Sister Xilan, it was Grandpa who asked you to go back. You should go back with us first. The Zhao family is discussing your affairs, maybe you can return to the family."
Zhao Xilan obviously knew the young man. She glanced at the young man, shook her head slowly, and said, "I'm sorry, brother Zilong, I can't go back to the Zhao family with you. It's no longer my home. After my parents died, I have no relationship with the Zhao family anymore."
The young man named Zilong was still unwilling to give in.
He lowered his voice and said, "Sister Xilan, this time it's Grandpa's decision. You know he hates people disobeying his words the most. He hopes you can go back with us."
Zhao Xilan raised her head slightly, her eyes passed over the young man and fell on Zhao Santong, and she said in a deep voice: "I won't go back with you, so just give up on this idea. No matter who it is, even if Grandpa comes in person, I won't go back."
Zhao Xilan paused for a moment, then turned her voice cold and said, "Also, Third Uncle, I know that my parents were not killed by me. It was you and Second Uncle who planned it. You are the culprits who killed my parents. I will not let you go."
After hearing this, Zhao Santong suddenly became furious.
He shouted angrily, "Zhao Xilan, what did you say? Who killed your parents? You must have evidence to prove what you say. Don't talk nonsense. Otherwise, it will be slander."
Zhao Xilan ignored Zhao Santong and winked at me.
I understood and said to everyone, "Let's go into the inn."
Then we walked into the inn.
"Zhao Xilan, stop right there... You can't do this! You..."
The young man named Zilong said unhappily. He and the man named Zihu next to him were about to rush forward to stop Zhao Xilan.
But they were stopped by Zhao Santong. "All right! Zilong, Zihu! Don't go over there. These guys are not simple."
Seeing us enter Longtan Inn, Zilong was still a little unwilling and said, "Third Uncle, we can't let Zhao Xilan go like this. When we came here, we promised grandpa and my dad that we must not let Zhao Xilan go."
Zhao Santong pretended to be deep and said in a deep voice: "Okay, Zilong, don't say anything. Let's find a place to stay first, and I will deal with Zhao Xilan at night. She thought she would be fine with the protection of those ghost-catching Taoist priests, but I want her to die in my hands."
When saying this,
Zhao Santong's eyes became cold and fierce, as if there were two knives hidden in them!
Afterwards, Zhao Santong took his son Zihu and his second brother's son Zilong and left Longtan Inn.
Seeing us enter Longtan Inn, the female owner Li Shuang was very surprised: "Oh! Master Yang, you are back!"
I nodded and said with a smile, "We are back!"
Li Shuang's eyes fell on Zhao Xilan's face and she said in surprise, "It's her! It's her! The last guest who stayed at my hotel was her. Didn't she disappear... I didn't expect you to find her."
Zhao Xilan smiled awkwardly and said, "Yes, Boss, it's me. My name is Zhao Xilan. I'm so sorry for causing you trouble by disappearing suddenly."
Li Shuang shook her head and said, "No, no, no, it's not a problem. It's our inn that didn't take good care of you. You are our guest, and we are wrong for not fulfilling our responsibilities."
Afterwards, our people exchanged pleasantries with Li Shuang and the waiter Dachun who came over shortly afterwards.
The waiter Dachun had been invaded by a poisonous insect before, but now he looks almost recovered and his face has returned to normal color.
After knowing that we were going to stay at the hotel, Li Shuang asked the waiter Dachun to lead us to the second floor. As for the room rate, it was charged at half price.
Originally, according to Zhao Xilan's idea, we were planning to rush to Soul Burial Valley this afternoon. However, the appearance of the Zhao family made Zhao Xilan feel very uneasy. In addition, she was also a little worried about her master Lou Xiaoman.
So, after we discussed it, since everyone had been working hard for a few days, we decided to rest for a night in the Longtan Inn and then head to the Soul Burial Valley the next day.
We also know that Soul Burial Valley is in the north of Longtan Town, but we don't know how to get there, so we need to find out more.
Soon we went upstairs.
There were six of us and we asked for three rooms, all of which were large rooms with two beds.
Master Lou and Zhao Xilan shared a room. They hadn't seen each other for more than two and a half months, so they needed to communicate. I shared a room with my master Zhang Chu. Fatty Li shared a room with the little monk Yuquan.
We rested in the room for more than an hour, and when it was almost noon, we went out of the room and had some food outside. Master Lou did not leave the room because he was injured, so we brought the food back.
In the afternoon, after resting for a few hours, I went out to inquire about the Soul Burial Valley. The others stayed in the room.
What I didn't expect was that when I asked the townspeople of Longtan Town about the Soul Burial Valley, their expressions changed and they were unwilling to talk more.
Later, I met an old man in a liquor workshop in the south of the town.
The old man was not a local, but he had lived in Longtan Town for more than ten years. He was very old, but his hair was very black. If it weren't for his bald head, you wouldn't be able to tell that he was very old. His face was red because of the liquor he drank.
"Young man, you look like a tourist visiting Longtan Town, right?" he asked me.
I smiled and nodded.
The old man came close to me and said mysteriously, "Young man, you are a tourist, so you may not know much about the Soul Burial Mountain. Let me tell you, it is not a good place. It is a place where people are eaten without leaving any bones. In recent years, no one who has been to the Soul Burial Mountain has returned alive. I am not exaggerating, this is true. That place is very evil!"
(to be continued)
(End of this chapter) (End of this chapter)